How robust are current narratives to deal with the urban energy-water-land nexus?

Abstract

Current energy, water, and land (EWL) nexus research treats all resources equally, causing bias in complicated nexus studies. To make the analysis robust, we consider resource endowment and significance. Here, we provide a methodological framework where the urban industrial resource nexus strength is constructed and assign weights to resources according to policies, describing resource efficiency and representing it in ternary diagrams to assess the urban industrial nexus innovatively. Results showed that energy drives urban development under all weights, with energy resource efficiency exceeding 60%. From consumption-based accounting, energy continues to dominate most industries under physical weightings but emphasizes the significance of water and land. While, under economic weightings, land supplants energy's dominance in specific sectors. Setting weights helps understand resource interaction, establish synergy based on urban development objectives, and minimize robustness. Our findings provide quantitative evidence for assessing urban resource efficiency to highlight priority sectors for intervention in urban decision-making.

Keywords: Consumption-based flow; Energy-water-land nexus; Resource efficiency; Urban sustainability; Weighting.